Signis Luna
by daisley
Summary: Remus and his friends are in their fourth year at Hogwarts. Just when he thought he'd figured his friends out, they continue to surprise him. Sequel to New Beginnings. Trying to stay as canon-compliant as possible.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First of all, I'm not J.K. Rowling, this universe and these characters are rightfully hers. Secondly, this is the sequel to "New Beginnings", and, as I'm trying to stay as canon as possible, it's not mandatory that you read that story before this one, but I seriously recommend it. The Marauders are about the start their fourth year at Hogwarts and the drama continues. Please read and review!**

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Chapter 1: A Narrow Escape

August, 1974

As Remus slowly regained consciousness, he began sorting through the confusing and fuzzy memories from the previous night as he often did after a transformation. Most of the time, there was nothing worth remembering, just blood and teeth and rage which only provided more fuel for his nightmares; but something unusual had happened last night.

The wolf had spent a large chunk of the evening trying desperately to squeeze its head through the bars on the tiny window in the corner of the cellar; it had only just grown large enough to reach it while standing on its hind legs during the summer. There had been something important outside last night.

Remus tried to make sense of the jumbled information that had been gathered by senses that weren't his own. It couldn't have been something the wolf had heard because of his father's silencing charms and he couldn't remember _seeing_ anything…

_Smell!_ He thought suddenly; _it had been a smell!_

It had been something familiar, something that been intriguing enough to stop the wolf from hurting itself; but what was it?

A persistent banging sound finally made its way to the forefront of his brain and Remus risked opening his eyes a crack.

He was in his bed. Someone had mercifully shut the blinds on his window so his room was dimly lit. It became clear that the banging sound was coming from the living room and he glanced around his own room quickly.

His mother was sitting in an armchair beside his bed, shooting nervous glances at the window and someone had put all of his belongings into boxes. Remus felt his remaining grogginess disappear instantly.

"What's going on?" His face ached as he spoke from the wolf's long struggle against the bars on the cellar window.

"We have to leave," Hope's voice was faint as she twisted a tissue in her hands anxiously.

"What!? Why!?" Remus tried to sit up, but he was still lacking the strength to do so; his mother helped prop him up before sitting back down.

She chewed her bottom lip and when she spoke, the emotional strain behind her voice made his stomach plummet, "There was an attack in the town last night." Remus' eyes widened and he felt his heartrate pick up.

"They're saying—" Hope tugged at the tissue in her lap, "they're saying that it was a _werewolf_ attack." Before he could react she added in a whisper, "A little girl died."

Remus felt sick. Bile was rising in his throat and despite knowing better, he cried out, "But I didn't get out last night!"

Hope shook her head vigorously, "No, love. I know. It was another werewolf. But we still have to leave."

She was being infuriatingly vague and his head was spinning with a million questions.

"Did they find whoever it was? Are they still out there? Can't we help them!?"

His mother gave him an odd look: it was a mixture of pain, love, and something else he couldn't quite place. Something like guilt, perhaps?

Hope looked towards the bedroom door; the banging on the other side had finally stopped.

"Remus…" she began uncertainly, "There are some people in this world who are beyond help. I don't believe that… this individual… can be helped."

He stared at his mother incredulously, "Whoever they are, they couldn't control it!" he cried. "I _know _what it's like to be transformed, to be able to _see_ what you're doing and be powerless to stop it! Please!" he begged, "Please! We can't leave, not yet. We need to help them!"

Hope turned her attention away from the door and fixed her gaze on her hands. Her sudden sob startled him.

"Please Remus, _don't_. We just have to go and we have to go _now_. I won't let him find you!" she wailed.

His mother buried her face into her hands as her thin shoulders shook and Remus felt something twist in the pit of his stomach.

"You won't let _who_ find me?"

At that moment the door to his bedroom swung open revealing his father, looking more pale and ill than Remus had ever seen him. He cleared his throat.

"Everything's packed. I've found a house about an hour outside of Ipswich."

Hope nodded mutely and Lyall glanced at his son nervously, "We'll go as soon as you're well enough to Floo there." He pointed his wand at a stack of boxes in the corner of his room and shrunk them down until they were small enough to fit in his pocket. "I'll have to come back for the rest later."

"Can you do anything for my garden?" Hope asked gloomily.

Lyall nodded, "We'll only be gone for a couple of weeks, but I'll see what I can do." His father turned to leave but Remus stopped him in his tracks.

"I don't understand," he was positively desperate for some sort of an answer.

Lyall leaned heavily against the door frame.

"I know," he replied sadly, without turning to meet his son's gaze.

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The rest of the morning passed in a stressful blur.

Hope refused to leave her son's side and Lyall, having already packed all of the more crucial things, paced around the house anxiously.

Remus found it impossible to rest and his father, eager to speed up his son's recovery, handed him a different potion every half hour.

By mid-afternoon, the werewolf was feeling well enough to make the, admittedly short, journey to their new house, much to his parents' relief.

He didn't want to leave their home. After all, the Lupins had lived there for the past couple of years, longer than they had lived anywhere else since Remus had been bitten. His parents had friends in the village; truthfully, they weren't close friends, but it was the first time his parents had established any such connections in nearly a decade.

As he stepped out of the fireplace into their new house, Remus collapsed into his mothers' arms, feeling weak and shaky once again. A moment later, Lyall appeared behind him with a suitcase in his hand. He set the suitcase down and immediately turned his attention back to the fireplace.

"What're you doing?" Hope asked nervously.

"Closing the connection," he explained hastily, "At least for the next couple of days." He cast a spell which caused the flames in the fireplace to glow green, then red, and finally they died altogether.

Remus, leaning heavily against his mother, could only stare at his father curiously. In the past, the Lupins had been forced to leave their home abruptly on several different occasions, but most of the time they would have a few days' notice; but even when they'd fled in the middle of the night, his father had never seemed so terrified before.

Lyall reached down to pick up the suitcase again, his hands were shaking violently as he did so.

"Dad?" Remus said, barely above a whisper. He hoped his father knew what he was really asking. Hope squeezed his shoulder behind him.

His father flinched before stooping down to open the suitcase, revealing a number of miniature items.

"I'll start with your room," he replied evasively.

Remus couldn't help but wonder if his parents would ever explain what had just happened.

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The Lupins spent the better part of the next week cooped up in the tiny house. Whenever Lyall had to leave for work, he'd set up an excessive number of barrier and protection spells on the house and Hope fretted and fussed every time there was an unexplained sound outside.

As the days wore on, Remus' curiosity gave way to frustration. The house was stifling in the summer heat and although he'd been told it was still too dangerous to go outside, no one had told him _why_ it was dangerous. Not to mention Sirius had been having an extremely hard time at home this summer and Remus knew that his friend would start panicking if his letters were returned without being delivered, but his parents remained adamant that he wait a few more days before sending an explanation.

After a little over a week, Hope and Lyall had finally calmed down enough to let their son send a message to Sirius. He got his friend's reply just a few hours later when Bevan, the family owl, returned home.

_You're dead, Lupin. Dead!_

Remus sighed to himself as he began reading the hastily-scrawled letter.

_First the Daily Prophet says that there's been a werewolf attack in Pentrich_ _and then every one of my letters gets sent back unopened! James, Peter, and I were about to start a country-wide search!_

_As soon as I see you, I'm going to kill you._

_Hope everything's alright,_

_Sirius._

Remus smiled, suddenly grateful that he'd be returning to school in just a few short weeks.


	2. Chapter 2: Another New Year

**A/N: Thanks for all the support and comments so far—I'm very happy to be finally diving into this story, especially since I've been thinking about it for so long. Please read and review.**

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Chapter 2: Another New Year

As Remus made his way to the back of the Hogwarts Express, he tried to put the memories from his latest transformation, not quite two days ago, out of his mind. It was impossible however.

He'd said goodbye to his parents just five minutes ago and his mother had _still_ been trembling like a leaf.

The house outside of Ipswich didn't have a cellar, a shed, or even a spare bedroom for him to transform in, so they'd moved all of the furniture out of Remus' bedroom and his father set up a number of barrier spells—it was something the Lupins had had to do countless times in the past. But the wolf had become a lot stronger and more ferocious in recent years. On Sunday night, not only did the wolf shatter the flimsy bedroom door, but it had managed to claw and chew massive holes in the drywall; if his father hadn't set up multiple barrier spells around all four walls of his room he would have…

Remus shook his head and pressed his thumbnail painfully into his palm; he didn't want to think about what would've happened.

But the thoughts crept back in quickly. He imagined his parents cowering in the kitchen all night, trying to stay as far away from their son's room as possible, feeling the whole house shake every time the wolf threw itself against the door or the walls. Lyall had probably had a death grip on his wand the whole time…

_Hogwarts_, Remus thought, trying to break the train of thought. _School, classes, the library, friends_.

Finally he reached the last compartment, where he and the other Marauders had agreed to meet. Sirius was already inside, lounging across one of the benches as he watched out the window, but there was no sign of Peter or James.

Sirius started slightly as Remus slid open the compartment door, but grinned as soon as he saw who it was.

"Good summer?" The dark-haired boy asked so casually, the werewolf had to remind himself that the last time they'd spoken had been months ago, not just the other day.

"It was alright, I suppose," he replied as he eyed his trunk—debating whether or not he was strong enough to lift it up yet.

"You?" he asked as he decided to chance it and tried to pick his trunk up. It was heavier than he anticipated, but Sirius was beside him the instant he began to struggle, helping him push it into place.

"It was alright," he answered, and Remus chuckled.

Once his trunk was secure, the realization dawned on the werewolf that he was now several inches taller than his friend. Evidently, Sirius noticed the same thing and shot his friend an amused look.

"Looks like your father got a little over zealous healing your broken bones and added a couple of extra inches," he teased before plopping back down into his seat.

"Perfect. Let's add 'lanky and awkward' to the long list of reasons why I'm so loveable," he sighed as he sat down and Sirius laughed his trademark bark of a laugh.

Truthfully, Remus hadn't given his recent growth spurt too much thought—he figured that the others would've grown just as much but he now realized that it was a ridiculous assumption.

"You know, for most people, being tall is a _good_ thing." Sirius rested his hands behind his head casually. That was when Remus noticed a bruise peeking out from under his friend's t-shirt sleeve.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, nodding towards the mark.

Sirius had to twist his arm to see the bruise. Remus could've sworn he saw his friend beginning to blush.

"Must've banged it up when I was packing my trunk a few days ago," Sirius could be a very convincing liar at times, but the waver in his voice gave him away.

"Right," he replied skeptically, watching his friend try and fail to angle his wand towards it.

"Just help me heal it, would you?"

Remus resisted the urge to delve deeper and sighed.

"Alright, let's see it then…"

Sirius shifted in his seat and pulled his sleeve up further—the bruise was large and a particularly painful looking blue colour. Not giving himself a chance to imagine what had caused such an injury, Remus muttered the spell Madam Pomfrey had taught him at the end of last year. The bruise faded to a pale yellow which was barely noticeable.

"That's the best I can do for now," Remus leaned back, putting his head against the window.

"Thanks," Sirius muttered sheepishly, tugging his sleeve down self-consciously.

"Packing your trunk, huh?"

"Yeah," Sirius smiled but it looked horribly forced and Remus took it as a sign that his friend needed a change of subject fast.

"Did you hear from Andromeda and Ted this summer?"

"I did," Sirius' smile turned genuine and he laughed, "Nymphadora's learned how to change her nose at will. Andy said it's a pain because she can't take her anywhere muggles might be."

Remus laughed and Sirius seemed to brighten up.

The compartment door slid open again and James and Peter walked in.

"Have a good summer, lads?" James grinned widely as he moved to store his trunk. Without waiting for any answers, the messy-haired boy plopped down next to Sirius, frowning slightly as he looked at the werewolf.

"You alright? I'm surprised Dumbledore didn't make special travel arrangements for you this year."

Remus felt a blush spread across his face and memories from the night resurfaced.

"If you think I look bad, you should see the house…" he joked darkly.

Evidently James and Peter didn't seem to think that there was any truth behind his words and laughed. Remus forced himself to smile along with them but Sirius shot him a worried look.

"What'd you do this summer?" he asked James, clearly trying to redirect the conversation.

"Wait!" he interrupted before James' had a chance to reply, "Let me guess… I'm sensing two words… Qui… quid…"

"Quidditch practice!" Peter shouted and Sirius laughed. James scowled slightly.

Noticing his friend's sour expression, Remus lightly quipped, "Looks like Divination class is finally starting to pay off." Sirius' laughter redoubled.

"I did other stuff too, you know," James replied defensively. "My parents and I went to Denmark for two weeks."

"Oh?" Sirius quirked his head to the side slightly, "And what did you do there?"

James' blush returned, "Well, it was kind of boring sightseeing all the time, so I wound up working on my flying skills a lot." At this, they all laughed, even James.

"Bloody hell," he breathed once the laughter had died, "That can't _really_ be all I ever do and talk about…"

Sirius patted his shoulder sympathetically, "It's alright, mate. We're here for you whenever you're ready to admit you have a problem."

"Oi!" James gave his friend a playful shove.

It always amazed Remus to see how quickly the Marauders were able to slip back into their roles once they were reunited. Months could pass with almost no communication and, in a matter of seconds, it was as if no time had passed at all.

The werewolf tilted his head back against the window, feeling suddenly exhausted—he hadn't realized how anxious and stressed he'd been feeling until now, when he felt much more at ease in his friends' company.

Noticing that their friend was beginning to drift off, the other Marauders lowered their voices slightly but continued their banter the entire trip.

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Remus watched the Sorting carefully, trying to remember the names of all of the incoming first years.

"Fewer and fewer every year," James muttered quietly beside him as the Sorting Hat declared a timid-looking boy a Ravenclaw.

"Yeah, there were 80 students in Andy's year," Sirius added thoughtfully. Remus felt a knot form in his stomach as he reflected that there couldn't be more than 30 new students this year.

"Where did everyone sleep?" Peter asked.

Before Remus could answer, Sirius said, "All the dormitories have been enchanted to expand and create extra rooms for bigger classes, there's never more than six to a room though." He raised his eyebrows and wondered when Sirius had actually bothered to read _Hogwarts: A History_.

"SLYTHERIN!" The Sorting Hat interrupted and the dark-haired girl hurried towards her cheering classmates, blushing.

"I wonder why there are so few of them," Peter frowned.

"I've been hearing rumors lately," James said softly.

"What kind of rumors?"

"The kind I don't want to believe…"

Remus squeezed his knee anxiously, but continued to watch the Sorting in silence. He found himself wondering about the werewolf his parents had so clearly been terrified by at the beginning of August.

When the last first year had been sorted, Professor Dumbledore rose and delivered his customary welcome back speech and introduced yet another Defense professor. Food appeared on all of the tables and a dull roar of conversation filled the Great Hall.

Remus hadn't had much of an appetite since the full moon and he looked at the food on the table with dread. He knew that, despite wanting to do nothing other than crawl into bed, he had to eat something to keep his friends from fretting over him, but before he could make a choice, James dropped a steak on his plate.

"That one's yours," he winked.

Remus cut into it and realized that, although it wasn't quite as rare as he preferred his meat to be, it was far rarer than any of the meat he'd ever had at Hogwarts.

"I had a word with the house elves at the end of last year," he explained. Remus grinned gratefully. The moment he took a bite he felt better than he had all day and silently scolded himself for not eating earlier.

By the time dessert appeared on the table, Remus was laughing and joking with his friends, again. Memories from his last transformation seemed to finally fade away and he felt that he had never been happier to be back at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3: Soap and Unicorns

**A/N: This chapter is very, very late and I'm extremely sorry. I recently moved and it completely changed my schedule and I'm just getting to a point where I can fit "writing fanfiction" back in. Fear not, the next chapter will not be nearly so late. Please read and review. Thanks!**

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Chapter 3: Soap and Unicorns

Remus sat under an enormous beech tree with Lily in comfortable silence. James was at quidditch practice and Sirius had left to help him out—he swore he'd never join the team, but between Dorcas Meadowes graduating at the end of last year and James' constant pleading, it didn't seem likely that Sirius would be able to hold out much longer. Peter was studying in the library and although Remus knew he should join him, he couldn't bring himself to sit inside when the weather was so nice.

Both he and Lily had brought their schoolbooks along with them, with every intention of studying outside, but neither one had taken any notes.

With a minute sigh, Remus set his Care of Magical Creatures textbook aside, giving up on maintaining the illusion of work.

He couldn't believe it had only been two weeks since the start of term. With all of the homework he and the other fourth years had, it felt as though they'd been at school for months already.

"Can I borrow your History of Magic notes?" Lily asked. Remus smiled to himself as he reached into his bag to pull out the parchment—some things never changed.

"You know," he said thoughtfully, "I saw an older edition of this year's textbook in the library the other day—I'm sure it's the same one Professor Binns is teaching out of."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Your notes are better."

Remus blushed slightly at the compliment.

"I don't think I've actually asked you how your summer went yet…" She added as she scanned through his notes.

Suddenly finding the grass much more interesting, Remus replied tightly, "It was fine. We moved."

Lily gasped, "Oh! Oh, that's right! Marlene told me about the attack in Pentrich! I was surprised I hadn't heard about it earlier, but I guess my parents' house isn't the best place to stay up-to-date on wizarding news." She quirked a smile and Remus did his best to seem relaxed.

"Did they ever find whoever…?" She trailed off.

It was an innocent question really, but Remus' hand tightened convulsively on a patch of grass on the ground beside him.

"No. Whoever it was, probably didn't stick around for long, but my parents didn't feel safe there anymore."

"I can't imagine what it must be like for whoever it was..."

"What?" Remus thought he'd misheard her.

"Well, it was a werewolf attack, right?" Remus stubbornly refused to reply, but Lily carried on, "What would it be like to wake up one morning and realize that you've killed somebody?"

Nausea engulfed him and he began debating whether or not he could run away at that very moment without looking suspicious. It seemed very unlikely.

"I don't know," he said quietly instead, trying to ignore the bile which burned his throat.

"Oh god," Lily breathed and Remus felt panic set in.

Had she put two and two together? Remus wasn't the one who killed that little girl, but it was very suspicious that his family had moved away right after the attack. If Lily associated the word 'werewolf' with him in any capacity, he was certain it wouldn't be long until she found out the truth. His heart was thudding painfully by the time she continued.

"You didn't know the girl who was killed, did you? Oh Remus, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I'm being completely insensitive!" Remus let out a shaky breath of relief.

"No! No, I didn't know her." He nearly smiled before he reined his emotions back in, "It was just a stressful summer for my parents and I, that's all."

"Things are changing," Lily murmured softly. "I keep hearing rumours about these Knights of Walpurgis and Sev is—" She stopped short and Remus glanced at her.

"'Severus is' what?"

It was Lily's turn to try to hide her panic.

"Nothing, never mind. Forget that I said anything," her cheeks flushed crimson. "Where are your moronic friends?" It was a hasty and painfully obvious redirection of the conversation, but Remus was in no position to protest.

"Quidditch practice," he replied as opened his Care of Magical Creatures textbook again and set it back on his lap.

"Typical," her distain was only half-hearted. "We have three essays due next week and all they care about is the next match. If they aren't careful, they're going to fail out of school."

Remus hummed in reply, deciding not to point out that without really trying, James and Sirius still managed to earn nearly perfect scores in just about every subject.

Lily huffed in irritation; she'd learned long ago how to tell when the werewolf was only keeping quiet to avoid a confrontation.

"Can I see your Defense notes?" she asked eventually.

"Of course," he handed her another stack of papers and began reading the section on unicorns in his textbook.

They settled back into a comfortable silence which lasted roughly fifteen minutes before James' voice disrupted them.

"Oi! Remus!"

He heard Lily swear under her breath as the two dark-haired Gryffindors made their way over to the beech tree.

Both boys were covered in dirt and sweat and Remus found himself wondering how anyone could get so filthy playing an air-based sport.

"Guess who's finally agreed to be our new keeper!" James patted Sirius roughly on the back and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Right, I '_agreed_' to it," he exaggerated the word and laughed, "I was, in no way, recruited against my will."

Out of the corner of his eye, Remus noticed that Lily had begun to pack up her things.

"What's the matter, Evans?" Sirius taunted, "Don't want to spend time with your _boyfriend's_ mates?"

She continued packing without bothering to acknowledge Sirius' comment, but Remus saw the pained look on James' face at the word 'boyfriend' and shot his friend a warning glance but Sirius ignored him and pressed on.

"Come on, Evans. We can't be _all_ bad, Remus likes us after all," Lily's face was gradually turning red with her irritation, "And I'm sure your friend, McKinnon, has some nice things to say about me too," he winked suggestively and Lily groaned.

"You're repulsive."

"Wait!" James shouted a little too enthusiastically as the red head stood to leave, "You should stay!" Lily looked at him as though he'd just confessed his deep admiration for Snape. Even Sirius gawked at his friend.

"I, uh…" The messy-haired boy looked around uncertainly, apparently at a loss for a reason _why_ she needed to stay. He glanced between Remus and Sirius, looking mildly panicked. "I need your help…" he continued.

"My help?" Lily sounded more annoyed than curious.

Remus watched his friend's face carefully: clearly feeling trapped by the situation, James' expression suddenly became closed and the werewolf knew what was about to happen.

"Snivellus needs an intervention. I swear, he leaves a trail of slime everywhere he goes," Lily looked positively murderous, "Since you're so close and all, I was wondering if you could pass this along to him for me?" He waved his wand and levitated a rock from the ground before quickly turning it into a bar of soap.

The gesture was lacking James' normal creativity and was an incredibly obvious and desperate attempt to backpedal, but Sirius laughed hard anyways and Lily still hit James with a hex that made soap bubbles pour out of his ears.

"Thank you for letting me borrow your notes, Remus," she said sweetly straightening her robes as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "I'll get them back to you after dinner." And she headed back towards the castle.

Sirius had begun trying to undo Lily's hex and Remus gave James a pointed look.

"What?" he asked, defensively.

"A bar of soap? Really?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "It was a heat of the moment choice."

"I thought it was funny, mate," Sirius added reassuringly, "Simple but classic."

"Thanks." James blushed and turned his head slightly to watch Lily march away.

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Since choosing it as one of his elective subjects in third year, Care of Magical Creatures had been one of Remus' favourite classes; but as Professor Kettleburn emerged from the Forbidden Forest with three unicorns (an adult and two foals) in tow, it became clear that today's lesson was going to be anything but pleasant.

The mare had barely made it into the lecture area before she began to whicker nervously.

"That's quite normal," Professor Kettleburn explained distractedly as tried to settle the creature down, "Mature unicorns are often skittish around people, particularly men. Unicorn foals on the other hand are much more trusting." Some of the students cooed as one of the golden foals nuzzled the other.

Kettleburn secured the mare to a fence post and invited the girls in the class to slowly and gently approach her, while he lead the two foals towards the boys. The closer they got to the group, the more nervous they seemed to become; when they were only a few meters away, one of the foals tried to break free and run back towards the forest, but Kettleburn's tether spell held tight.

"Alright, these two seem a little more anxious than usual, it must be the crowd. I need all of you to take a couple of steps back… There, perfect. Now, I'm going to have you approach them two at a time. Remember to do so slowly to avoid startling them. First, Mr. Parker and Mr. Belby."

The two Ravenclaw boys managed to reach the foals without incident; as they began stroking the unicorns, Professor Kettleburn turned his attention back towards the girls.

"Ms. McKinnon, please refrain from feeding the unicorn!" Marlene jumped and dropped the handful of grass she'd been holding.

The lesson wore on, Professor Kettleburn rambled off information about unicorns as he attempted to supervise both groups of students. Things appeared to be going smoothly until Remus and Peter started to approach the foals.

Both unicorns reared back suddenly and desperately, whinnying out of fear. The mare, sensing her foals' distress, began thrashing erratically, trying to break free.

"What happened?" Kettleburn shouted as he hurried over to where Remus and Peter stood rooted on the spot. "What did you boys do?!"

"N-nothing!" Peter stammered.

Remus tried to take a step back, but at his slightest movement, the unicorns' panic seemed to double. At that moment, he realized that the creatures were trying to get away from _him_, the monster.

Heat raced to his cheeks.

"Look down at the ground and take a few slow steps back," Kettleburn instructed, Remus and Peter obeyed. Gradually they inched further and further away until the unicorn foals had enough space to calm down.

Remus could feel the curious stares of all the other students focusing on him; even Kettleburn was watching him with complete bewilderment.

"I think it would be best if we conclude today's lesson early," the professor announced finally, "Please read chapter 8 of your textbooks and summarize the information for next week's lesson."

The class disbanded but Remus remained frozen in place. He watched as Professor Kettleburn worked to guide the unicorns back into the woods.

A hand patted his back and made him jump, he whirled around to find James, Sirius, and Peter still standing behind him, looking uncharacteristically solemn. All four of them knew what had just happened.

"Come on, let's go grab lunch," James said eventually with a small smile.

Remus nodded mutely and followed his friends towards the castle, feeling suddenly exhausted.


End file.
